Button



(No Model.)

L. MORSE;

BUTTON. No. 332,276. Patented Dec. 15, 1885.

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UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

LEYVIS MORSE, OF NORTH ATTLEBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS.

BUTTON.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 332,276, dated December 15, 1885,

Application filed September 23, 1885. Serial No. 177,898. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, Lnwrs MoRsE, a citizen of the Unit-ed States, and a resident of North Attleborough,in the county of Bristol and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Buttons, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention relates to that class of but tons wherein the shoe is pivoted or hinged to a hollow post which incloses a spring to act on the shoe and hold it in required position to enable said shoe to be first passed through the button-hole of a cuff or other article, and then be turned down at right angles to the post to hold the button in place.

The object of the invention is to enable the shoe to be brought directly in the vertical line drawn through the axis of the post when it is desired to insert the button into a button-ho1e, so that the strain exerted on the shoe is transmitted to the post in the line of its longitudinal center, whereby said shoe is competent to withstand the pressure and maintain its position without being easily moved to one side or the other of said pivotal center. To facilitate the entrance of the shoe, it is made tapering on its sides from heel to point. Further, the shoe, preferably in the form of a loop when in position in the line of the post, is pivoted at one end to the hollow post and bifurcated or cut into two parts or sections, so as to permit one part to be turned in one direction to assume a position at right angles to the post, and the other part turned in the opposite direction, and thereby retain the button in place. In this connection the pivoted end of the twopart shoe is provided with squared faces, which operate, one at a time, against a spring-actuated block in the hollow post to hold the shoesections in adjusted position; also, to admit nicety and smallness of parts, together with considerable spring resistance, I provide the hollow post with a spring of novel and peculiar construction.

The invention is fully set forth in the fol lowing description and claims.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a button embodying my invention with the shoe in position to be passed through the button-hole of a cuff or other article; Fig. 2, a front elevation; Fig. 3, an inverted plan showing the sections of the shoe extending in opposite directions and substantially parallel with the head; Fig. 4, an enlarged sectional view of Fig. 2, and Fig. 5 a perspective view of one of the shoe-sections.

The button'head a is provided with a hollow post, I), having pivot-ears c at its outer end to receive a pivot or pin, d, which passes through one end of a sectional shoe placed between said ears, to hold said shoe in pivotal or hinged connection with the post. The shoe consists of two parts or sections, 6, in the present instance of a loop or oval shaped link having an enlargement at one end and divided or cut through its longitudinal center crosswise of its width, to provide two sections of equal or substantially equal dimensions. The outer surface of that portion of each half or section which receives the pivot-pin is squared, to provide in this instance three faces, f, which, in the various positions in which a half or section may be placed, respectively engage the rectangular block 9, arranged in the hollow post intermediate of the shoe-sections and the spring h, the latter being also inclosed within the post, as shown in Fig. 4. As will be noticed from the drawings, the common axis of the two shoe'sections is directly in the line of the longitudinal center of the post, so that when said shoe-sections are arranged in the line of the post, to permit them to be inserted in the buttou-hole of a cuff, the pressure or strain incident thereto will be transmitted to the post in the line of its said longitudinal center,whereby the shoe-sections will be firmly maintained in upright position, and will not be liable to be turned to one side or the other while being so passed into a cuff.

To further facilitate the insertion of the sec tional shoe into a cuff, as well as to lessen and simplify the parts, I taper said shoe from heel to point on its flattened sides, as well as taper the sides of the post to correspond, substantially, with the taper of the shoe, as clearly shown in Fig. 1. By this means not only may the shoe be more easily and readily inserted into a cuff, but after it has been inserted and the shoe-sections turned down in opposite directions to retain the button in place there is less liability of the ends of the shoe-sections engaging the skin of the wearer, because of the larger or more bulky portions at the heels of said sections.

To attain smallness of parts together with considerable spring resistance, the spring his made of C form, with its ends more or less apart, the said spring being placed in the hollow post, with its center preferably resting against the under side of the head of the button and its ends abutting the block g,-which latter is free to be moved within the post. By this arrangement of the spring with both its free ends against the block I attain equal spring resistance to the two shoe sections throughthe intermediate block, g. As shown, the heels of the shoe-sections abut the loose block, and when the parts are in the position shown in Fig. 4 the spring is slightly compressed, so that the shoe-sections will be firmly retained in position. When it is desired to turn the shoesections to a position at right angles to the post, as shown in Fig. 3, the 0- spring will be further compressed, and its ends may pass by each other.

I am enabled to get my improved spring within a smaller space than those heretofore employed in cuff-buttons having hollow posts and still retain at least the same amount of spring resistance.

What I claim is- 1. The combination, with a button -head having a post and spring, of a shoe pivoted at one end to the post and divided transversely from end to end, as specified, into two shoesections, each adapted to turn on their common axis and pass the other in either direction, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. A bntton-head having a hollow post containing a spring and block or follower, combined with a shoe pivoted at one end to the post and divided transversely from end to end into two shoe-sections, each adapted to turn on block located within the hollow post to bear' against the shoe, and a spring, substantially of C form, said spring arranged in the hollow post, with its center bearing against the head of the buttons and its endsabutting the block, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence oftwo subscribing witnesses.

LEWVIS MORSE.

Witnesses:

CHARLES F. SoI-IMELz, J AS. H. LANGE. 

